Raven, the Trouble Maker

 I see I haven't posted for a while.... well, blame Raven.

I started doing some designs with a large black Raven on them a couple of years ago. It was Hallowe'en that led to that, really. My booth at the Market was looking pretty skinny (it was the last week of the season) and I wanted something black and white so I painted some large bowls with Ravens on them. I liked them, and painting free-hand was fun. Painting large black thugs was therapeutic!

What I hadn't expected was that people would like them.

So I did some more, and then some more and then some mugs and one thing led to another until this spring I foolishly applied to be included in my local Arts Society's group show at the Foyer Gallery. This was totally uncharacteristic for me. I dislike competitions and know I never do good work when I am under pressure, so why I did this I don't know. Probably I didn't expect to get in so it didn't matter.

But I did. So I figured, well, OK, lots of time, I don't need these pieces until July 14th. Then I found out the theme for the show was to be 'Summertime and the Living is Easy', which didn't exactly help. I couldn't really paint Ravens hoisting cans of beer or b-b-q-ing or sitting by the pool, so what was I going to do?  I had the awful thought that I'd have to make Raven look happy. A happy Raven would definitely not be up to anything good.

So then I was told to submit pictures of the finished work by June 25th. Right in the middle of a Serious Project (Serious Projects are the kind that make money) and during the busiest time in the garden and while various Home Systems were falling apart, I had to stop and work on Raven instead. This is another way Raven causes trouble.

Making the pieces was no big deal. I decided to make some shallow bowls like before, some small plates and some mugs. I only needed 4 pieces for the Gallery so I figured the rest would be for sale. Then I started to paint..... and Raven just did not co-operate. Some looked like kind cheerful souls, quite the wrong 'look'. Others were limp.... or plain boring.... Raven causing trouble again.

Of course I ran out of black and my favourite large brush disintegrated and I couldn't figure out how to show mist in the distance. Just more Raven trouble.

But I got them done, and photographed. Here is one of the designs, which I'm calling Woods Edge Summer.

Whew, met the deadline, now I can relax.

Until Raven's next trick.

The Birds That Sing In the Spring, Tra La....

Actually, do Blackbirds sing? The ones I think of as blackbirds are really Red-winged Blackbirds, and they sound more like rusty hinges than Pavarotti. Probably there are other kinds called Blackbirds, and maybe some of them have sweet songs.

The ones on my pots don't really sing so much as they chirp and cheep and act cheeky.

Here's a picture of some in progress. I've been asked a few times how I make them, and you can see, it is quite simple. Just make a shape, mug or bowl or some such, then cut out a Blackbird from a flat slab of clay, and stick it on. Done. Well, except for then painting the bird..... adding the details.... firing the piece.... dipping it in clear glaze and firing again. Any potter reading this will agree, easy!

Painting the birds and their details

It's fun putting the birds on! And then when I come to painting the details, I just let my imagination go and things happen.

The black line which meanders around representing the birds' paths as they hop around can go anywhere, and the little colour motifs which represent the things they find as they go can be anything - leaves, sprouts, pebbles, clouds.... anything.

Here are some finished bowls:

With luck, there should be a whole load of them ready for the Market on Saturday!

Thinking Asparagus, Sort Of

Will somebody please restrain me? Every time I sit down at the wheel to throw some sauce jugs (for the Hollandaise to go with the fresh asparagus available now) I find myself making another Fairy House base. Arrrggghhhh. I have enough Fairy Houses!

Now I need small jugs in cute shapes to go with the asparagus dishes I'll have at the Carp Farmers' Market opening on May 10th. Here are a few:

See the little jug? Perfect for Hollandaise sauce, right? Just in case you don't have one, here is my quick and easy (and foolproof) recipe for that:

Combine in your blender: 4 egg yolks, 2 tbsp. lemon juice and a pinch each of salt, cayenne and white pepper. In a small saucepan, heat 3/4 cup of butter until it almost bubbles. Now, with your blender running at a low speed, very slowly pour the butter into the mixture. It will emulsify almost immediately, so be ready to turn the blender off quick. Pour into a nice Pine Ridge Studio jug, and serve hot.

Easy, right? And delicious! Great on eggs, over asparagus, even on toast....

Another great thing to do with asparagus is to roast it. Really. Just break off the ends, wash, etc. Lay the spears in a single layer in a glass or pottery dish, sprinkle with butter, parmesan cheese, and Panko crumbs. Roast in a medium to hot oven for about 15-20 minutes. You may need to watch the time as thick asparagus spears take longer, and you may want to turn them over half-way through. Whatever you do, have that sauce ready!

Now I'd better get back to the wheel and throw some more Fairy Houses.... no, I mean, sauce jugs.

Clay + Felt

Doesn't that sound intriguing? I was certainly intrigued when I heard that Catherine Gutsche, a local artist, who was coming to my Clay Day, was going to make something combining clay and felt. I just couldn't see how the two could come together! (Except as a muddy mess..... but I was sure that wasn't what she had in mind!)

I'll let Catherine tell about it in her own words:

"Why do children get all the Play Dates? It's just not fair. That is the reason artists make a point to invite other artists to their studios for Play Dates. It's our version of the coffee klatch in the cubicle world. We like our worlds but occasionally we too need the company of other like minded folk.

It was for this reason that artist/potter Lis Allison extended her Pottery Play Date invitation to the artists in the West Carleton Arts Society group. When I got her email I was so excited. I’ve had this crazy idea cooking in my head with no way to execute it until then.

Over two weekends Lis hosted a small group of artists in her rural pottery studio. She quickly gave us a basic intro to pottery and then let us free in her workspace. She guided us individually and expertly answered questions that flew at her from left and right. We each embarked on our individual projects with coffee and conversation flowing.

I described my project to Lis and we both agreed that I wasn’t really 100% sure how I was going to execute the final product. But that’s often how I work, I have a picture in my head and a pretty fuzzy plan that often takes a few twists and turns until I settle on my final outcome. Being a mixed media artist, my plan was to join pottery and felt into one piece. How they were to join was a developing theory. And here is the resulting fusion of pottery and felt:

I call this one 'Purple Jester', and there's a possibility that you may see it at the West Carleton Arts Society Expressions of Art  fall show and sale."

 Wow! I'm totally impressed! What Catherine did was, she made a small bowl with a row of holes around the top edge. Then she felted the 'hat' and added the beads and wire and sewed the felted bit to the pottery bit. Voila, a nifty little object to make you smile every time you see it. Can't you just imagine one on your desk or on top of your computer or on the shelf near your art supplies? 

I hope she makes lots more! And thank you for telling us about it, Catherine. By the way, I have lots more clay.....

It Must Be Spring

Must be. I'm making Fairy Houses again!


They are rather fun, but you have to be wiley to make them. The first time, I attached the roofs to the houses and then when I came to glaze them, had to brush the glazes on because dipping, waxing, bisque firing to get the wax off, re-waxing, more dipping.... too boring.

 
The next time, I left the roofs loose so I could dip them in one colour, dip the house in something else, and hope they stuck together in the kiln. Worked, except that occasionally one would go a tad wonky.

This one isn't too bad but others weren't funny!

So this time I've left the roofs loose, AND made pointed tops like bottle necks on the bases to hold the roofs in place. Like I said, wiley!

The reason I'm making them is that I've signed on to put together a bit of a Fairy Village at High Lonesome next weekend, May 3rd and 4th. It's a Creativity Blitz! No idea what that is, but is sounded like fun so I volunteered. I was afraid I'd end up on parking lot duty, but to my relief, I get to make my Village. 

(High Lonesome is a Nature Reserve, in the Pakenham Hills, and the Blitz invites everyone to "join with others and connect with Nature and explore your creative side". All the information, including directions can be found on the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust Conservancy website.)

Of course, I won't be using styrofoam and spray paint like in this picture! I'm hoping to find a stump or a rock wall or small spooky woods to make the Village in.
Will Fairies come? Check back in a week or so to find out!

New Horizons

Maybe it's the weather.... or the fact that I still have piles of crusty snow under the trees while all the blogs I follow are chortling about their spring flowers.... or the fact that my kiln once again stalled at 1763F.... or something, but it is time to branch out a bit. Believe it or not, I am bored. Pottery is hard, the rewards are few, my shoulder is giving me problems and it's been 25 years, folks. So I'm not, not by any means, backing off from the pottery, but I will give myself permission to do a few other things as well.

 This too is part of living the life of a potter.

Here's a picture of the painting I did of Aquilegia on paper.

 

Much easier than on glaze! Maybe I'll use it to print some notecards. Or gift tags, which I somehow attach to the Wildflower design mugs and such. Could be fun!

Another new horizon I'm going to explore is innovative ways to combine pottery with other craft/art forms. For a starter, our next post will be by a friend who has worked out a nifty way to combine pottery with felt... tune in next week for her post on the subject.

I feel more interested already!

Red Stains

On the whole, the red and bright orange stains we have available to us these days are a real boon. For those of us who like to paint flowers on our pots, they are especially useful as many flowers have small red areas..... and then of course there are the completely red flowers. Columbine, or Aquilegia canadensis, is one of them. When I was asked to make some mugs decorated with a Columbine design I figured one of the new reds would be perfect. These stains, which are called 'micro-encapsulated' and use selenium and cadmium compounds, are supposed to be food-safe 'when fired correctly' but since I don't really know how I can be sure of that, I'll restrict them to the outsides of things for now. Still, people often ask for red designs on the outsides of bowls and mugs and I thought I'd accept the challenge.

A few tests on tiles looked pretty good.

But my first set of mugs were rather washed out. I didn't have the red stain on thickly enough. I found when I was painting the flowers (and I paint on top of the raw glaze because my glaze is opaque white) that it was hard to brush on a second coat as this made the first coat curl up and peel off. I fixed that set of mugs by over-painting them with china paints, which, by the way, can save your life in situations like this.

The second set of mugs, I thought I'd try painting them, then re-bisque-ing, then adding another coat of red, before glaze firing to Cone 6. Here's what happened:

  I guess the glaze coat, fired only to Cone 06, cracked and it became obvious in the later firing. Luckily, I also had another test in the same glaze load, where I brushed on a double coat of red without letting it dry in between. That is, I brushed on one coat and then immediately a second coat. Seemed to work, at least the stain didn't curl up and fall off but I needed to see the finished piece to be sure it would work.

It did!

A big relief, and now when someone asks me for red, I don't have to roll my eyes (mentally, of course, not physically) and make apologies. Now, how to explain that they can only have the red on the outsides of things....